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Yeah, Sign Lewis and get a OLB who can stop the run, play pass coverage well, and get to the QB on a regular basis then we're good to go....on defense. Providing Woodley is back to form and the line steps up.

Lewis is a must-sign. Sacrifice veterans to make it happen. However, I wouldn't cut Troy or Clark, because we have absolutely nothing behind them (Will Allen and Ryan Mundy are free agents, and Robert Golden and Da'Mon Cromartie-Smith aren't even bona fide backup safeties in the NFL, never mind potential starters). If you have to cut Ike in order to sign Keenan, then you'd still have Keenan and Cortez (I'd much rather have two young talented corners on the rise than one CB on the rise and one CB on the decline). If you cut Harrison, you have Worilds and Woodley. If you cut Keisel, you have Heyward and Hood. If you cut Colon, you have DeCastro and Beachum. If you cut Troy or Clark, you have no one to man the back-end. We draft a couple of solid safety in this draft to learn from Troy and Clark for a year, and then possibly move on from Troy and/or Clark next year.

The Rams' offense featuring weapons such as Marshall Faulk, Torrey Holt, and Isaac Bruce were known as "The Greatest Show on Turf"

The Steelers' offense featuring weapons such as Le'Veon Bell and Martavis Bryant should be known as "The Greatest Show on Grass"

This has nothing at all to do with respective playing surfaces at the Edward Jones Dome vs. Heinz Field.

If you had to choose between Ike and Lewis, I would take Lewis. Ideally, I'd like to see the Steelers get one more year out of Ike/Lewis/Allen. I believe that Allen actually played more snaps than Casey Hampton this year. After years of us hoping the Steelers could find a corner in the draft, they now have 3 of them. If possible, I would like to see that group kept together for one more year. If I had to choose, you take Lewis. Even if Ike is better today, you take the youth.

There are lots of good corners on the market this year, so hopefully that helps the chances of Lewis returning.

I wonder if Ike and Lewis are the choices though. Given the cap hit in cutting hike, it seems more probable that the decision would be between somebody like Keisel and Lewis or something along those lines.

Yeah, Sign Lewis and get a OLB who can stop the run, play pass coverage well, and get to the QB on a regular basis then we're good to go....on defense. Providing Woodley is back to form and the line steps up.

Any OLB we get has to be able to get to the passer first and foremost. Stopping the run is secondary.

If you had to choose between Ike and Lewis, I would take Lewis. Ideally, I'd like to see the Steelers get one more year out of Ike/Lewis/Allen. I believe that Allen actually played more snaps than Casey Hampton this year. After years of us hoping the Steelers could find a corner in the draft, they now have 3 of them. If possible, I would like to see that group kept together for one more year. If I had to choose, you take Lewis. Even if Ike is better today, you take the youth.

There are lots of good corners on the market this year, so hopefully that helps the chances of Lewis returning.

I wonder if Ike and Lewis are the choices though. Given the cap hit in cutting hike, it seems more probable that the decision would be between somebody like Keisel and Lewis or something along those lines.

The restructuring and cutting has to be done to meet rule 51. They won't do it just to get under it. They will do it to create operating room, create space for tenders, drafted poole, and sign URFA. You restructure and/or extend BB, Woodley, Timmons, & Miller. You cut Harrison & Colon if they won't take a pay cut. You get compliant with rule 51 and have enough to tender you RFA. You target Lewis before the draft. You be very selective with the other URFA until after the draft.

Remember...First year of deal can be structured where it won't be a big hit on Lewis. But...If you have to cut Clark or Keisel to hold on to Lewis...You do it. This will be there last year. Yes, they were both very productive last year but this is business. Last resort would be a restructure of Taylor or Troy. You pick the one who you will part ways with in 2013 and take the hit.

You are all worried about cutting vets to invest in the future. Don't get too attached to things. This is about the Steelers not the name on the back. "The Steelers would never cut Aaron Smith, James Farrior, or Hines Ward until they were ready to hang it up." How quickly we forget.

I'm not as worried about the Steelers cutting vets as I am doubtful that they will choose to actually do enough of it to squeeze out a new contract for Lewis. I don't see them cutting Clark...they might axe Keisel, but that's not going to be enough. They're already talking about bringing Harrison back--hopefully, he'll come back for less $$, but will it be enough to really help re-sign Lewis? As for your other suggestion, I don't think it's a good idea to restructure or extend Miller (don't know if he'll come back healthy), or Woodley (don't know if he'll ever be productive again), or Big Ben (they've already restructured him so much that his $10 million annual salary equals a $20 million cap hit--how much bigger do you dare make that number?).